On Sunday I did my first multi-pitch trad climb with a friend, i.e not with a professional guide (& it had been nearly two years since I’d done a trad climbing multi-pitch route anyway).
I went with one of my closest climbing buddies, someone with whom I climb almost every single weekend — we basically have a “standing date” to climb together on Sundays unless something comes up for one of us.
We’ve been climbing together regularly since last summer so we know each other well now, both as climbers and as people, and I truly count him among my best friends. I’ve grown a lot as a climber while climbing with him, also because he’s a much better, and much more experienced, climber than I, but we have the same level of risk tolerance and the same type of “somewhat responsible” recklessness.
This was our first multi-pitch trad climb together, and it’s a big deal. Multi-pitch is a big deal: it involves a lot of risk, a lot of effort, a lot of shared work and collaboration, clear communication, and a huge amount of trust — along with very powerful, wonderful, and joyful emotions that can linger for days.
This multi-pitch trad climb we did on Sunday was hefty: five pitches of grade 5.9-5.10, several rated R (i.e. a “route where you could get seriously hurt if you fall”); and then to get back down, we had to scramble a 4th class descent (which basically means you’re down-climbing something quite steep and slippery and that would preferably require rope). We were exhausted but exhilarated and super happy at the end of the day — and then went out to get dinner together, also for the first time.
At the end of the day, as we said Goodbye, my friend said, “I feel like today has been a turning point for you”. And he was right: I definitely did grow another increment, as a climber, on Sunday. But I also believe it was a turning point for us, for me & him as buddies & climbing partners. And knowing him, I believe that’s really what he meant to say — “I feel like today has been a turning point for us”!
And a wonderful turning point it was!
The Little Prince and the Fox 